Revelation chapter 14
A verse by verse explanation of the 144 000 using the KJV of the
Bible
1.And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the
mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's
name written in their foreheads.
Note here in
verse 1 that the Lamb of GOD is Jesus Christ who was sacrificed for our sins. The 144 000 are
pictured as being "with the lamb." This is in contrast with the rest of
the world who are pictured being with the Beast.
[ch.13]
Q.: What
is Mt. Sion [Zion}? A.: GOD calls his church a virtuous woman of Zion
[Jer.6:2] and the apostle Paul presents those cleansed from sin, 'virgins'
espoused to Christ [2.Cor.11:2]. When Jesus washes us clean in His blood,
we become as we had never sinned. It is than up to us by the power of His
Holy Spirit to keep the house clean.
These 144 000 virgins are also seen in Revelation 7 as being compared to the 12 Patriarchs of the O.T. and sealed by the Holy Spirit of truth. Ten of the 12 tribes were lost and integrated into Assyria long ago. So James' greetings of the 12 tribes must refer to the N.T. Christians [James 1:1] scattered throughout Christendom.
What stands out of the 144 000, is their spotless character. Jacob alias Israel was an over comer as a prince with God and at his blessing ceremony praised his 12 sons [the 12 Patriarchs] for having overcome their natural faults. A slack Phlegmatic can change from laziness to a learned leader and a domineering self-centered heartless Choleric change into a Christ like compassionate Leader etc.
This is more obvious by looking at their foreheads as having the Lamb's Father's name written in their foreheads. A name in the Bible stands for character. And GOD is holy, so a holy character is obtained by following Christ closely and growing up into Him.
2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder: and I heard the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers with their harps:
3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Their's is a song of experience. They have overcome and won the victory with CHRIST over the beast 666, its mark, its name, its number and image. [ch.13]
4. These are they which were not defiled
with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb
whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the
first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Verse 4, Q.: why
aren't the virgins defiled by other woman [churches]? A.: In Revelation 17
we see the impure women as those who adulterated the truth with politics.
They made the natural enmity of the cross acceptable to the world by compromise
and lowering the moral standards.
State-churches are Lutherans in Scandinavia and Northern Germany,
Catholics in Spain, Italy, and South American States, Anglicans or Episcopalians
in England, Dutch Reformed in Holland, Presbyterian in Scotland etc.
Also, the great Mother Whore who claims that Protestants are her naughty daughters that have run away from home, are now returning. The Mother took out the 2nd of the 10 Commandment which forbids false worship and brought into Christianity paganism with idolatry and images. Not only that, she also altered the very day of worship taking from GOD His holy Sabbath and substituted it with a pagan holy day of sun worship, Sunday, the day of the sun. [Rev.13 is all about false worship]. The Revelation was given on the Lord's day, GOD'S Seventh day of the fourth Commandment.
The sun-monstrance has been the most holy object of worship and the priest used to hold it up in front of the congregation to bless it. The Lord's supper was turned into Mass were Christ is crucified daily. The wafer has the round shape of the sun and the inscription IHS stands for sun-gods Iris, Horos and Seb. The sign of the halo also presents the sun.
Occult symbols are seen all through the Vatican. In Rev.17 last verse tells us that the woman is also symbolized by being a city, namely, Vatican City, just as Babylon of old was a city and a universal religion in opposition to true worship.
5. And in their mouth was found no
guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
Perfection is not possible this side of heaven without glorification at
the last trumpet, but it certainly sounds like it.
6. And I saw another angel fly in the
midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on
the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.
Another angel or angelos meaning heavenly messenger. The everlasting
gospel is the good news that only JESUS saves and we not ourselves and that His
blood cleanses us from all sin! Salvation is a free gift and as such cannot be
earned by any good works. [Eph.2:8,9]. But it must be claimed by faith which
comes from hearing/studying the holy word of GOD [Romans 10:17]. He took our
punishment. He was treated as we deserve so that we are treated as He deserves.
7. Saying with a loud voice, Fear God,
and give glory to him: for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him
that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
GOD fearing man and women obey GOD out of love. Faith which worketh by
love. But the gospel has never been preached by Protestants in connection with
the judgment hour of GOD! [Catholics never preached until recently, they only
held liturgical mass, ceremony]. Judgment hour of GOD is either the seven last
plagues or the very last day. So Adventist preachers are the only messengers of
the good news combined with judgment because this hour began in AD 1844 at the
end of the 2300 days of years prophecy when JESUS entered the final phase of Yom
Kippur, the day of final Atonement or judgment hour by cleansing the sanctuary
in heaven [Daniel 8:14;7:10].
8. And there followed another angel,
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Here we reject the Roman Catholic view of Babylon being the city of
Jerusalem because Babylon has always been a symbol of the enemies of GOD. Even
though GOD called Israel a whore when the went to bed with their enemies, but
never has Jerusalem been called Babylon. Babylon means the gate of God, but it
was the first city built by Nimrod who defied GOD and distrusted GOD. Nimrod
built the tower of Babel also called Babylon to make a name for themselves. But
the real reason was lack of faith/trust in GOD to escape in case of another
flood. See foot note.
9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10. The same shall drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is poured without mixture into his cup of
indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.
This is a message of most fearful import. No more severe threatening of
divine wrath can be found in all the Bible. The sin against which it warns must
be a terrible sin, and it must be one so plainly defined that all who will may
understand it, and thus know how to avoid the judgment pronounced against it.
11. And the smoke of their torment
ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship
the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
False worship is here indicated. It is other than true worship which is
indicated by the next verse and leads to obedience.
12. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
There is another way of determining GOD's character, and that is by His holy law of righteousness or right doing [Romans 8:3,4]. i.e. not stealing, coveting, lying, murdering, bearing false witness etc., but 9 out of the 10 Commandments can refer to any God and any religion. But the only commandment that speaks of holiness, is GOD's own Sabbath. It means that He sanctified it, or set aside for holy use [see Genesis 2:1-3 and Ex.20:8-11]. And it cannot refer to any other GOD, but only to Him that made heaven and earth [see Rev.14:7]. Jesus the Lamb also declared Himself Lord of this non-Jewish Sabbath [Matthew 12:8;Mark 2:27,28]. It is the true Lord' day on which John received this book of Revelation and highly controverted. The papal idol Sunday-sabbath has been put in place of Christ's Sabbath and the 10 Commandment day.
Q.: What is the first angel's message claiming that GOD's judgment has already come? A.: When first day Adventist in the early 1800's preached the Gospel, they referred listeners to the longest time prophecies of Daniel 8:14 and 9:24-27 which was fulfilled in 27,31,34 and 1844 A.D.
At the end of the 2300 days of years, Jesus would enter the Most Holy place of the heavenly Temple to perform His duty as High Priest in cleansing the sanctuary from the defilements of sin. [see also Heb 9:7]
This is also referred to as Yom Kippur or day of At-one-ment. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ made an atonement for sin at the cross, but in the O.T. type of shadows, the sins were transferred from the bleeding Lamb into the sanctuary Temple of GOD and dealt with at the end of the sacrificial year or rounds of ceremonies. Not until than was all sin eradicated. Jacob's time of trouble is deep heart searching for sin. Jacob means deceiver and our fallen nature are deceitful above all things [Jer.17:9; Isa.64:6] in fact ours is much the same as that of fallen angel's [Isa.14:4; Ezekiel 28:12-19].This alone indicates that the 144 000 will be finished with willful sin.
The sanctuary doctrine teaches the complete Gospel from beginning to end. Cleansing of the sanctuary by GOD in heaven since 1844 A.D. is none other than the day of judgment or at-one-ment. This is the only everlasting Gospel presented in Revelation 14:6-12 and its advocates seen as keeping the Commandments of GOD and the faith of JESUS [ not two commandments of JESUS and the faith of GOD]
The great disappointment of first-day Adventists in the great Advent 'awakening' is seen in Revelation 10 last verses, and it says that they must present this same messages again.
Soon after their sweet preaching that JESUS is coming soon to cleanse the earth by fire and brimstone, they suffered a bitter disappointment. According to Daniel 7:10 judgment was opened and v.13 saw JESUS coming with clouds of angels to the Father, the Ancient of days.
But Christianity as a whole was ignorant of what the sanctuary in Daniel 8:13,14 was. They interpreted it as to mean the earth or portion of it GOD came to cleanse, and it suited the fire and brimstone preachers of their day.
Soon as they realized that the cleansing of the sanctuary was in heaven and the ark containing the two tables of stone was seen up in heaven at judgment day [se Rev.11:18,19], they renounced the false worship of the Sunday -Sabbath or the first- day Adventism and change back to GOD's worship of the holy Sabbath day so with completing all of the Decalogue.
But this stirred up the rest of Christendom. They soon disfellowshipped all those who had followed the Baptist preacher William Miller into the great disappointment. Now Adventism saw their duty and privilege to warn all Christendom of the moral fall they suffered by declaring the 10 Commandments nailed to the cross, null and void in order to denounce GOD'S holy day Jewish etc. etc.
The principle objection today that the day of GOD is Jewish contradicts JESUS who says it is for mankind and in Exodus 20:8 we can see that it has nothing to do with Jews because it was given 25000 years before the first Jew was born [Gen.2:1-3]. The other claims are that we now rest in JESUS and He or us are the Sabbath day.
Satan's enmity against the commandments of God is seen in Rev.12:17 where he gets plenty of help from the Christian world today.
To show further that we live in the time of judgment, Rev.3 shows the last church to be the materialistic Laodecea, which means judging the people. Seventh-Day Adventists apply this to themselves as being luke warm and shutting out JESUS with legalism.
James also tells us that we are to be judged by the 10 Commandments [James 2:10-12]. This cannot mean all the laws, nor the laws of Moses as he only mentions two of the 10 Commandments of GOD.
This agrees very
much with the O.T. declaration: "Let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for
this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether
it be good, or whether it be evil".-Eccl.12:13,14
Q.: What does it mean to have a "mark" in the hand or forehead? A.: As we have already seen above, the forehead agrees with the character of GOD or else with the sins and errors of the beast.
GOD told His O.T.
people to bind His law of commandments on the forehead and on their hands.
This means that whatever we think and do, must be in accordance with GOD's law.
GOD's people are still in spiritual Babylon which sins have reached to heaven
and Christianity mixing with politics has become very wealthy and powerful
[Rev.18].
The impure woman has a name written on her forehead: "And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON
THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.".---Rev.17:5
The Bible would not put this in capital letters if it was not important!
Mother of Harlots! What are Abominations? "For that which
is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of GOD."----Luke
16:15 last part.
Necromancy
[talking to the dead] is also a great abomination with GOD, the prayers for the
dead and holding the Mass for deceased loved ones. But the abomination of
desolation [Daniel 8:13;Mathew 24:15] desolating CHRIST'S heavenly Temple
intercession from the rest of Christianity. It was rediscovered after 1844
by Adventists that the cleansing of the Sanctuary by JESUS was not this earth,
but the heavenly Temple.
And notice the very next verse:" The law and the prophets were until
John [the Baptist]: since that time the kingdom of GOD is being
preached..........And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one title
of the law to fail. Whosoever......commits adultery." --vv.16,17
Here is an important point. Jesus claims that the law and prophets were
until John,the law and the prophets usually refer to the law of Moses, the first
five books of the O.T. and the smaller books that follow, are the prophets, and
JESUS shows that it ended there while many claim that He was still under the law
while proclaiming His new Kingdom, in order to refute the obligation of the
Sabbath.
While our Lord ended the O.T. at His Baptism, he quotes one of GOD's [His]
Commandments, adultery, as still binding and underscores it by saying that it
would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than one of the Ten
Commandments.
Adolf Hitler was a Roman Catholic, not from Germany, but from Catholic Austria and therefore hated the Jews. This was also another reason why the Sabbath was condemned as being Jewish. Rome sponsored two world wars and at the present time, Protestants in America are urging President Bush on to war against the Arabs so that they can rebuilt the old temple in Jerusalem where today stands an Islamic Mosque. They would do a lot better looking up to the heavenly temple where JESUS is doing some house cleaning.
"And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." Papal Rome is desperately trying to regain the lost Roman world empire again.
The N.T. or the
N.Covenant law is written into our hearts by GOD Himself through His Holy
Spirit: "A new covenant in which He made the
first one old".-Heb 8:13 "Then verily the first covenant had
also ordinances of divine services, and a worldly sanctuary."-Heb 10:1
"Now this is the summery: We have such an high Priest......A minister of the
sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not men."-Heb
8:1,3
"For this is the covenant that I will make........I will put my laws into their
minds, and write them into their hearts..........................and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more."-Heb
8:10,12 ;10:16; Ezekiel 11:19,20; 36:26
Note: For GOD not to remember our sins no more, we must stop sinning!
Q.: What is sin? A.: The apostle Paul had not known sin if it wasn't
for the 10 Commandment law [Rom.7:7] and again, sin is the transgression
of the law [1.John 3:4].
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